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china and russia for vetoing a u.n. resolution. >> of the security council has failed utterly. in its most important task on its agenda this year. this is another dark day in turtle bay. >> the suicide bomber it targeted a bulgarian bus full of israeli tourists. a video emerges the day after the deadly attack. he has overcome the odds after emigrating from cuba, now this u.s. gymnast is hoping to power his way onto the podium in the london olympics. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. tonight, there are fast-moving developments on the ground in syria while the united nations

veto has drawn a harsh rebuke from a western powers prefers fighting continues in damascus the day after the attack which killed three of the president's inner circle. rebels say they are in control of key border crossings. >> syrian rebels seize one of the crossings into turkey, dismantling the portrait of president bashar al-assad. something similar was reported on the border with iraq. it is a sign of great weakness. rebel fighters are still shooting in the center of damascus. these are unverified pictures, but there are many reports from the city that areas once considered regime strongholds have been affected. syrian state television shows

the president swearing in a new defense minister. presumably his tv appearance was designed to show calmness and strength. on the right hand of the screen was a failed attempt to increase pressure on him in the security council. international diplomacy is dead, the security council cannot agree on what to do next. russia and china the total western-supported attempt to strengthen sections. the russians argue might lead to military intervention. >> the decision by russia and china and -- to the date -- to veto this is inexcusable and indefensible. when it came to the time to turn agreements which they have supported into action to end the violence, they have stood aside from that. they have turned their back on the people of syria in their darkest hour. >> the syrian ambassador blame foreigners for causing the trouble at home. that has been the regime's consistent line since the

uprising started. the president of strategy, with smoke rising over damascus, needs to overturn one crucial development of the regime is to survive. even though his side as the tanks and heavy weapons, the opposition is showing more coordination and strength than ever before. this is the president's lowest point since the uprising started. just before it began, 16 months ago, he claimed syria was immune to the virus of revolution. the peace plan has been outflanked by violent events in syria. the president of one bright spot is the protection he is still getting in the un security council. the russians have denied reports they have given sanctuary to the president's wife. they have not yet been able to dispel the sense that they are buckling after the assassination of the president's brother-in- law and two other senior advisers.

>> allegiances are at the center of a spreading sectarian war. these are far more on fire fight pictures. the chances are they're shooting at elite units and militias dominated by men from the president's sect who believe their future depends on his survival. a majority of syrian soldiers sunnis and-- are there has to be a question about their loyalty to the president. >> i'm joined now by the former u.s. ambassador to israel who currently serves as the director of the brookings institution's foreign-policy center. while all these machinations are going on, the u.k. and u.s. said it will work outside the security council. i'm wondering if the time of the security council has passed. >> yes, it has passed, but it

will come again, no doubt. the russians and the chinese are in an increasingly untenable position and they continue to veto which manifest in a very clear way their commitment to a regime whose time is rapidly passing. they will have to split from bashar al-assad sooner rather than later and work with other members of the international community to try to work on an orderly transition, if such a thing as possible anymore, to a post-assad regime. in the meantime, the united states and united kingdom will be working with the opposition to try to unite them and support them as they take their fight to damascus and to try to find

ways, and this is the most difficult part, to convince the allied and christian communities that there is a secure future for them. >> what are the main concerns about what is going to be like? what are the western powers thinking about? >> they have to be worried about the worst-case scenario, which is with their backs to the wall, the syrian regime, the assad regime and its supporters will decide to establish a kind of space in the mountains in northern syria, potentially deploying chemical weapons, either threatening to use them to produce ethnic cleansing or actually using them. then you get a disintegration

into warlordism and a descent into chaos. >> is there international diplomacy -- does it have a role to play in an assad exit strategy? >> i think that's the most important element, to see if it is possible to extract him. tot's why the commitment their role of the christian communities becomes critically important, to separate them as well as the russians and chinese from assad. if we could somehow get him out of the country, the process of moving to a post-assad future becomes more possible. >> thank you for joining us. the authorities in bulgaria have released footage of the man they suspect carried out the suicide bombing of a bus full of israeli

tourists yesterday which left at least six people dead. he was carrying a fake american driver's license. israel blames hezbollah and iran for the attack, but iran denies involvement. >> this is the man authorities believe is the suicide bomber captured on closed-circuit television minutes before he blew himself up next to a bus, murdering six people. it happened late on wednesday afternoon, an explosion that sent a huge plume of smoke rising above the airport. the target, israeli tourists. witnesses spoke of body parts strewn all around. this survivors struggled to describe the chaos as people scrambled to get away. >> there was a lot of black fog. i tried to look for somewhere to go back but i could not get inside. >> look at the bus. the number of dead could have

easily been higher. a huge investigation is underway with the bulgarian authorities keep an open mind. >> we're not pointing the finger in any direction until we understand what happened in this incident and where the leads -- it is very complicated. i will leave at that. >> what appears to be the deadliest suicide bombing anywhere in the european union since the attacks on london in july of 2005, the authorities here and in israel insist there is no explicit intelligent -- intelligence that any attack was imminent. bulgaria is not accusing any group or country of the attack, israel has been clear. they say it is the work of hezbollah and run. >> -- and iran. >> the world's leading power should make it clear that iran is the country that stands behind this.

iran must be exposed by the international community as the premier terrorist-supporting state that it is. >> iran denies the charge, but tonight as the airport reopened, the bodies of the israeli dead were taken home. condemnation of the attack has come from around the world. many questions remain. not least, how and when israel will choose to respond. >> a police spokesman on the tanzanian i can't -- tanzanian island of zanzibar says there is little hope of finding any survivors from the ferry that sank on saturday. survivors have told the bbc that many people were trapped inside the ferry, though there was only one exit. in yemen, a food crisis has gripped the country. it's so severe that a million

children could die. that's the word from oxfam who has launched an urgent appeal for aid. the country is in the middle of its hunger season before the next harvest in october and this part of ramadan is pushing up prices. we have this report. >> this is the sound of hunger. the children are crying out for food. in this one village, we found dozens of chronically mom rich kids. some children have already died. watching her eight-month old suffer is agony. >> i'm really scared. i will die if he dies.

i am sick with worry. makes me so sad to see my son in pain. >> this is typical of so many of the kids we have seen. he has absolutely no body fat on him at all. they just don't have enough food to keep the children healthy and in some cases [inaudible] this country has always been poor, a toxic combinations of turmoil and violence have swept across the land. the lines of a quarter million children -- the lives of a quarter million children are in danger. the shocking thing is that right in the heart of the hunger zone, you can find food, but at prices that are skyrocketing beyond the reach of the poor.

so the crisis is driven by poverty. for a very lucky few, there is this -- oxfam handing out cash to save lives. these people are happy to walk for miles and wait for hours in the baking sun just to get some money. >> at the moment, we're talking about 5 million people going hundred and 10 million people who are at risk for going country. it is at this moment we need to come in and give them some help. >> at the local hospital, there's clear evidence that the need here outstrips any capacity for help. it may not look like the classic images we see from sub-saharan africa, but water -- what better illustration that there is hunger here and now in this country? >> their money is running out and aid agencies are making the united plea for more funds to prevent disaster and save lives.

>> news of the burgeoning tragedy in yemen. you are watching "bbc world news america." still to come -- over the past decade, china's economy has boomed. some have reached vast riches and now they're struggling to get them to stay. today, indian lawmakers have been voting to elect a new president. it's a largely ceremonial position, but whoever is pick could play a deflation -- decisive role in new forms the next government when elections are held in 2014. the front runner is the former finance minister has been traveling for weeks trying to tie up support. the successor will replace india's first female president. >> of voting for india's next president began at 10:00 here at parliament where more than 700 mp's began lining up.

similar scenes are being repeated across india. among the first persons to cast his vote was the prime minister, followed shortly by the head of the ruling party and also the man widely expected to win this race. he's a vastly experienced politician who has held a number of key cabinet posts in his nearly three decades of public life. is apposition can't it former parliamentary speaker. but he has not only the vote of his party and allies but a number of opposition parties who have broken ranks and say they will vote for him. that is why he is expected to win the contest quite easily. the presidency in india is a largely ceremonial post. the president has no major powers accepted constitutional

crisis. the next general elections are due in india in 2014 and there's a growing sense no party will win an outsized majority. in which case, the president may be called upon to play a decisive role in determining who forms the next government. it's the reason congress is so anxious their men -- their man wins this race. the results will be out on sunday. >> here in that u.s., the campaigning is under way for this november's election, but whoever wins the white house what new political leadership to deal with in china. the chinese president and other senior leaders will be stepping down after 10 years in charge. in that time, china has become the driving force of the world economy, creating a middle class that numbers around 300 million people. in the first of two special reports, our world affairs editor is in beijing to meet

some of those two have prospered from the boom. >> in a decade, chinese -- china's leaders have delivered to the successes -- they have made china four times richer and have avoided any great political turmoil. peace and prosperity. if they have real elections here, it would be a winning slogan. life has been transformed by china's success. he sounds like an evangelist, and he is. for education. his parents were illiterate and he has language schools all over china with 2.4 million students. yet he is modest for a billionaire. a nice enough house and a quiet estate, but no bling. >> this country has changed so much. >> it has. the country is making great progress. even the government is making progress.

we have hope. >> 13 years ago, china had $1 billionaire. now it has a 270. how do they spend all? but this british compiler of the china rich list reveals an extraordinary statistic -- 60% of china's billionaires' would like to emigrate. you can see why. life here is an unceasing struggle. for the first time, more people live in china's cities and countryside, all competing for resources, room to live, even for the polluted air they breathe. the unease spread to the middle class's which has grown sixfold in the past decade. this man works for motorola and his wife is a lawyer. they live the chinese dream come

yet part of the dream is to get out. >> if you are rich enough, you can take your whole family there. if you have enough money, you can take your family to move to somewhere else, maybe canada or wherever. >> his son takes a fencing lessons. it's good training. life in china is a battle. what about those people whose efforts created the chinese merkel? their lives have been badly disrupted and they've flooded into this city to work long hours at mindless tasks. simply giving people more money has not had the result china's leaders expected. >> before, we thought we would slowly make it the economy. more income, people would be happier. but it's just not there.

people are still not happy. even less happy. >> what has happened in china over the past 10 years will probably turn out to be as important historically as britain's industrial revolution. the problem is the huge gap between china's have and have- nots is getting it in better. sometimes the rule of law here scarcely seems to exist. >> that was some of the halves of china's success story. tomorrow, join us for a look at the have nots. now, to an athlete who is hoping success comes his way at the olympic games. he was born in cuba and his family immigrated to the u.s. when he was a child. now he is a proud member of team usa and world champion on the parallel bars, coast by his mother and stepfather, both

noteworthy gymnasts in their own rights. tonight, he tells his story to the bbc. >> i would probably be on the streets of doing that stuff because i'm very hard headed and don't listen to anyone. i would probably be done -- be in trouble on the streets giving, scare. my mom got me and my sister of cuba when i was a year-and-a- half old. my stepdad is my coach. they met each other and grew up together in cuba. i was born with the umbilical cord around my neck. my grandparents had already gone to the united states and my grandpa told her if you want to get out, send me a message that says everything is perfectly fine. that's exactly what she did one

year later and somehow he got us out and we came here and i've been here ever since. the only reason we left is because i was a sick child and i'm going to the olympics now and it's a very surreal. physically, i didn't have the right attributes to be a gymnast. my arms were way too long, my feet were too flat and my knees were on top of each other. so many things that said no to me being a gymnast. but there's just one thing that i needed and that was this. i just try to live in a moment as much as i can because that is something like this is so huge.

the moment goes by so fast. you don't really notice it until it's over. i want to use my gymnastics to segue into entertainment. in gymnastics, there are judges you are performing for, but at the end of the day, you are doing it for the crowd. i have been brought up in the cuban-american community. at home, i only speak spanish. i definitely think my parents had a huge influence on me. because of how they got here and why they got here. my mom did it all for me and my sister. we had an amazing opportunity to do anything we wanted to do. that's what the u.s. gives us.

born hopesa's cuban- there. he now has a shot at olympic gold. if you missed any of our profiles this week on adopted athletes of the olympics, you can watch them on our web site. you will find that series there and much more on all of the events surrounding the london games. that brings today's show to a close, but to see what the team is working on, check out our twitter feed and check out the web site for the latest coming out of syria. from all of us here, thank you for watching. tune in again tomorrow. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, union bank, and shell.

>> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture new ventures and helping provide capital for key strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world a.eles ce losng.es